Introduction
The home of the Horneckers, their ancestors and relations whose family history
is narrated in these pages, is the upper
Rhine , the area around the Kaiserstuhl
mountains (Markfraeferland), and extends in southern direction down to the
Swiss Alps
and eastward into the area of the Neckar and Donau. It is the alemannic-swahian settlement
area, which since many centuries is inhabited and cultivated by the people of the same race.
Through many generations runs the blood that binds the people of this country. Equal
fate and commonly experienced historic developments formed a people of equal character
and equal customs and imprinted in them a feeling of common interest with equal
aspirations in good and bad days.
There hardly is any other
German district that has sent as many of its sons
and daughters to foreign countries. From the alemannic-swabain area there were especially
many who emigrated to overseas countries. At a time when crossing the ocean still took
weeks and months, they undertook the hazards of such enterprise and faced an uncertain
future with their wives and children, relatives and friends in order to give their lives a
new essence and a better aim for their work. Although some have disappeared forever
in the unknown land, the majority of them succeeded to master life in their new home
country and many of them have worked their way up to high respect and wealth.
Most of these emigrants remained faithfully bound to their old homes.
An animated exchange of letters went back and forth over the ocean and people
were equally interested in the joy and grievances of their respective relatives and
friends across the ocean. Only the death of co-temporanians and relatives and the
coming up of a new generation caused the old ties to eventually loosen
and be forgotten.
Such was the case of the Horneckers, to whom these pages are dedicated.
They deeply root in this alemannic-swabian land, because their history can be traced
down far into the preceding centuries, They came from many places in southern
Germany and from almost all professions and classes. Today there are decedents of this
family still living on southern Germany earning their living as industries farmers,
artisans and efficient officials. May the reader of these pages across the ocean
realize that in his ancestors homeland, whish is now suffering from many wounds
inflicted by past events, there are still people living whom he can very well
call cousins. May these pages also revive the love of the present generation for the
homeland of their fathers. This is the wish that the writer of this family history
want to accompany his work.
Auggen (Landkreis Muellheim/Baden) April 1948
Engelhard Buhrin
Page 1
The Horneckers
The name
Hornecker is not one of the common
German family names. From a linguistic point of view it appears that it is of Souther
German or
Swiss origin. Among the
Swiss immigrants who came in great numbers to Southern Germany in the middle of the 17th century, this name, does not appear, and also the
Swiss name lists, which were published in great numbers,
do not show the name
Hornecker.
Contrary to that, it could be found twice in the survey of ample document publications of the
Upper Rhine area. In population registers of the small town Brumath in Lower Alsace a Gali Horneckher is listed in the year 1530 as member of the community council. The second source
is an inhabitants register of the former community Willstaett ( between Offanburg and Kehl) in 1590. There, among the adult population of Odelshofen, a Claus, Gaorg,
Hans the elder and
Hans the younger,
Michel and Wolff Horneckher are mentioned and in Kork, a
Georg,
Jakob Michel and Veltin Horneckher, and in the village Neumuehl, a
Adolph and
Michel Horneckher and
in the Ducal Court settlement Dachshurst, community of Eckartsweir, a Stoffel Horneckher.
The four above mentioned localities as well as the little town of Brumath at the time belonged
to the principality of Hanau-Lichenberg, which extended on both sides of the
Rhine near
Strassbourg, The history of the principality tell of strict practice of slavery and strong encroachment on personal freedom of its inhabitants. These Horneckers appear very probable.
Contrary to this statement, the connection of the bearers of the name with the first
authentically registered ancestor of the Horneckers who later emigrated from Auggan,
Andreas
Hornecker (No 1)
in Eichstetten on the Kainerstuhl, appear questionable. According to his age given at the time of death, he was born around 1600. The place of birth is unknown; the Eichstetten church register
starts only in the year 1644. On 25 October 1625 he married in Eichstetten in the Protestant faith
Catharina Hoefflin, born in 1626. The entry made into the church register by the minister preforming the ceremony does not mention the origin of the young couple nor of their parents.
Thus, the church register does not offer any revelation concerning the question whether or
not Eichstetten was the place of birth of the couple. Today Eichsetten is an important farming
community on the east side of the Kainerstuhl mountains with a population of approximately
2300. At the time- like most all Kaiserstuhk villages- it was scarcely populated. According
to reports of those time, the inhabitants of these villages left their homes in 1632 the Emperor's
troops invaded the country burning everything in their way. The destruction of the depopulated
countryside must have been horrible. The villages were deserted, the Fields uncultivated.
Wolves roamed the completely wild country. Eichstetten must have suffered especially much,
because with its claims submitted after the war (1648) it stand on the top of the list of all
communities.. This underpopulated area alter attracted many people. They came from Switzerland, near Alsace, and also from the neighboring areas West of the
Rhine in order
to find new possibilities to make a living and to purchase land at low prices and to settle down
permanently. Therefore it is probable that also young
Hornecker chose this way for himself.
Page 2
The Document telling about the time before the church registers were initiated does not
list the family name
Hornecker in Eichstetten: however, the family name of the young bride
is already mentioned before 1644. This, therefore would imply that the young
AndreasHornecker had come from outside and married there. His profession was farmer. So,
presumably, together with his wife, he worked to obtain his own farm. Around 1690
the couple is mentioned as the owners of real estate in Obereichstetten. The wife
died in 1690 on 10 December, and 14 years later on 1 June 1704 also her husband
passed away at the age of 84.
This marriage produced several children, ie the sons
Andreas and
Hans. Of these
two the family tree registers the son:
Hans
Hornecker ( No.2 )
He was born on 26 November 1662 in Eichstetten. Whether or not he had
the possibility to attend the village school to learn reading and writing is unknown.
In the later years he helped his parents on their farm. When he was 32, on 5 March
1694 he married Salome, daughter of Eichstetten inhabitant Micheal Dreher. The young woman was born in Eichstetten where her parents were naitve inhabitants. The marriage only lasted
15 years; on 6 October 1709 the wife died at 45. The cause of her death is unknown.
Six months later
Hans Hornecker married again. On 1 April 1710 he married in Eichstetten
in the Protestant faith to Catharina
Brandenberger, daughter of Jerg (
Georg)
Brandenbergerand his wife Christine, nee Keyser in Eichstetten.
They lived in disturbed times. From 1673 until 1714 one war followed the other and each brought French armies to the upper
Rhine area. Owing to the vicinity of the fortress Breisach,
which at the time was a hot spot, the Kaaiserstuhl villages suffered considerably. We know
nothing in detail of the life and fate of the
Hornecker family in these troubled times; surely
they remained not unaffected by the inevitable distress that wars always bring over the population
of such involved areas. At least they had to contribute to the heavy war-and occupation costs as well as they had to pay high taxes, which at the time were imposed on the inhabitants of the
Upper Rhine area, and resulting general economic depression will also have affected them.
Hans Hornecher died on 23 June 1726 at the age of 64 of the consequences of an accident
( he fell off a cherry tree). His wife lived for 19 years after his death; she died 4 August 1745.
There were no children from
Hans Hornecker's first marriage however, the second
marriage produced two sons and one daughter. Of these the family tree registers
the son:
Martin
Hornecker He was born on 29 December 1724 in Eichstetten. When he was 23, he married Regina,
daughter of workman
Georg Kissnagel and his wife Anna, nee Dinger, in Eichstetten. The
couple were farming and raising wine, bu apparently must have suffered considerably under the
unfavorable economic situation, because repeatedly they- incidentally like many other citizens
of Eichstetten- had to borrow money from wealthier people in the village, as entries in the Eichstetten court registers show. In addition to that they had a great number of children which
represented a considerable financial burden to the family. There were eight children of which only four survived the tender age (also a sign for the economic difficulties).
Page 3
The couple
Hornecker were contemporaries of the " Eichstetten clair voyant" of
whom the chronics still speak today. At the time a man lived there who caused great attention
everywhere by his gift to foresee events. The story of this man could sound fabulous, if a
definitely reliable and unbiased witness, the court attendant Enderlin of Boetzingen, had not
testified as to the truthfulness of this story. This clair voyant did not only predict the death
of prominent personalities, he could make precise statements about his own passing away
months before it really happened. But this is beside the point.
Martin Hornecker's wife died when she was still quite young, at 46, of typhoid fever,
which at the time raged as an epidemic in Eickstetten and causded the death of many children.
She died on 10 August 1772. Her husband lived for many years; on 7 December 1793 at
the age of 69 he passed away. Of the four surviving children we now consider the son:
Jacob
Hornecker He was born 24 March 1759 in Eichstetten. Later he worked as a farmhand in the same
town. He had an affair with the maid Cathrina Zimmerman-Meyer of Nimburg, who was also working in Eichstetten. They had a son,
Johann Jocob. Whether or not the parent of the child
married later on, could not be determined. Their wedding is registered neither in the church
book of Eichstetten not that of Nimburg. Nothing could be found about the later years of both parents. The son:
Jacob
Hornecker He was born on 24 March 1790 in Nimburg, his mothers home town. Nimburg
is a small rural community north-west of Eichstetten. The boy was reared in his mother's
parents home in Nimburg. After finishing school he learned the profession of a tailor from
1806 until 1809, in Nimburg. After that he followed the traditions of artisans in those days
and wandered about the country and worked as help for 5 years in different localities, among
other places of Auggen, where he met his future wife. From 1814 until 1818 he served in the
Badden militia. While he was still serving he married - with the permission of his militar supervisors - on 24 December 1815 Anna Maria
Adolph, the daughter of master blacksmith
Sebastian
Adolph and his wife Elizibeth, nee Seiler, in Auggen. The wedding took place in the
Protestant church in Auggen. Already at that time Auggen was an importamt farming community.
Today Auggen has approximately 1400 inhabitants who live off their farms and raising wine.
It is especially the wine that has give Auggen its good reputation far beyond the limits of
the immediate vicinity. Some photos are attached that show today's appearance of Auggen.
It is here in Auggen that Jacob
Hornecker settled down in February 1818, after having been discharged from the military, and worked his profession as a tailor. His application for
permission of residence could be secured in the archives of the community of Auggen and is
attached to these pages. The young couple lived in the upper part of Auggen in his wife's parents
home (now Haus Ankelin). A picture of the house, painted by artist Julius Kibiger in Auggen,
is also attached. However, due to the fact that at the time was sufficiently covered with tailors,
young
Hornecker must have discontinued his work, for already in 1825 he is no longer mentioned
among the village's artisans. In later years the community records list him as a community
forest supervisor, and this is probably the profession he held in the latter decades of his life.
He died at an advances age, on 3 November 1863. Both persons died in Auggen and are buried in the Auggen cemetery. The parent were survived by three sons, two othe children died at a very young age, The names of the sons were
Johann Jacob,
Johann Martin and Johannes.
Page 4
The son
Johann Jacob was born in Auggen on 23 October 1816. After finishing
school he worked with his parents and as occasional worker around the village, as is customary
in this area. He absolved his military duty serving three years with the 2nd Grand Ducal Regiment
in Frieburg i,Br. On 11 May 1843 he married Anna Catharina Vollmer daughter of miller
Matthias Vollmer and his wife Anna Barara, nee Leininger in Obereggenen. At first the couple
Hornecker had a little farm in Auggen; in later years then the man became a tax collector and until
his death on 27 November 1854 he worked as community accountant in Auggen. While the husband only reached the age of 39, his wife died at 67 on 8 February 1877. This marriage
produced the daughters Anna Maria and Barbara. Anna Maria born1844, married 1866
farmer
Johann Jakob Hunzinger in Voegisheim, a small neighboring community of Auggen.
Their children were
Johann Joacob and Robert and the daughter Emilie.
The latter was married to the community clerk Hurst of Voegisheim. Johann Jacob was
married to Rosalie Schuler of Prechtal, while Robert, born in 1871, emigrated to North
America and later owned a farm in Oregon.
The sons Johannes and
Johann Martin, children of the couple
Johann Jacob
Hornecker-
Adolph emigrated to North
America.
Johannes was born in Auggen on 4 December 1826. On 27 September 1849 he married Maria Elisabeth
Schorb, daughter of the farmer couple Jeremias
Schorb and his wife
Elisabeth, nee Weimann, in Auggen. The couple tried to earn their living through the operation
of their little farm and other odd jobs. Inasmuch as the economic situation became increasingly
worse the also emigrated to North
America in 1853 taking their children Ludwig and Elizabeth
with them. From the reports that later reached their home town, it is established that they settled
down in the state of Missouri, it is reported that they had three more children,
Jakob, Maria and
Johann. No information as to there fate is available in Auggen. In the straight line of this
Hornecker branch we now have the son:
Johann Martin
Hornecker As the second child of the couple Hornecker-Adolph he was born on 9 May 1822
in Auggen. After having finished school he learned at a master weaver's in order to later
take up this same profession. Whether or not he also wandered about the country for some time
or whether or not he ever made a weaver's examination, and when, is unknown.
When he was 25 years old he was married on 18 November 1847 in Dattingen with Anna
Maria
Nussbaumer, born on 20 August 1824 in Dattingen as the daughter of the farmer Micheal
Nussbaumer and his wife Regina, nee Eckerlin. Dattingen is a small rural community north
of Kreis town Muellheim ( Badden). Both families were old native residents of this village. The Eckerlins live there already before 1600, the Nussbaumers came there in 1650 from Switzerland.
After his marriage young
Hornecker worked as a weaver in Auggen. Whether or not he practiced this profession his behalf or whether he worked for some master, is not known. At any rate, times were pretty hard for setting up a young household and carrying on an independent buisness.
In 1840 the economis situation in the
Upper Rhine area became steadily worse, and the
depression reached its lowest point in the years 1853/1854, when the harvest, especially the
wine harvest, was a complete failure. As mentioned before the wine production represented
almost the main income source of the Auggen population. The value of real estate, for
instance, dropped in such a way that one could purchase a field for a loaf of bread or
Page 5
a sack of dried fruit. The general impoverishment had become so widespread that in some Baddish communities 25% of the citizens had to be supported by public funds. The village artisans situation was especially bad, because they anxiously were trying to cling to the old tradition.
Particularly the weavers were pressed not only by the most unfavorable economic situation,
they also saw as immediate crisis threatening their guild; for at the time in the near Weisental
a number of big weavers and spinning mills were founded, which of course represented a great danger for the home spinners and weavers because they were putting up hard competition by
being able to satisfy their customers earlier and at a more reasonable price.
A consequence of this hopeless economic conditions was unequaled high number of emigrants who mostly chose North
America as their new home, which, by emigrant agents, was
advertised as a land of unlimited possibilities. Thus, in 1854 also the couple
Hornecker decided to emigrate to North
America with their children Ernst
Friedrich (born 10 March 1848) and
Johann Martin ( born 25 April 1850). As previously mentioned the husband brother had gone to
America together with his family a year before that. They left their small estate holding to the brother who remained in the village, (now House Linsig). A picture of this house is also attached.
Nothing in detail is known about the exact date of emigration from Auggen, nor about the route taken. Most possibly they left with other inhabitants from Auggen, for in the year 1854 49 families from this village alone, among which were 8 entire families, left for
America. The place of destination for most of them was Syracus (N.Y.) And St. Louis ( Missouri) It is unknown in Auggen in which locality in the U.S. the family Martin
Hornecker settled first, which their
latter places of residence were and what their fate was. As much as could be determined from letters to relatives and friends in Auggen, Martin Hornecker's wife died in
America. In 1879 he
married for a second time, i.e. a compatriot from his native town, Marie
Meyer, daughter of the
couple
Andreas Meyer and his wife Anna Maria, nee
Adolph, who on her mother side was a
cousin to the first wife of her husband. The attached photo of the couple is a clip from an American newspaper of the year 1913. This second wife was born in Auggen on 15 January
1824 and , together with her parents, had come to North
America in 1834. She died on 5 May 1915 at her brothers house probably in Oregon. Her husband died later-the date is unknown.
It is said that he spend the later years of his life with his sons in lander (
Wyoming). It is also unknown how many children Martin
Hornecker had from his two marriages. As previously stated, at the time of their emigration in 1854, the couple had the sons Ernst
Friedrich and
JohannMartin. It is said that the sons Albert and
Georg were born in
America. The latter is reported to be the father of Major Harry E. Hornecker, U.S. Army, presently at Marburg ( Hesse), by whose
request this family history was compiled.
Thank you Harry E. Hornecker for asking for this history. We, as decedents of
Andreas appreciate what would have been almost impossible to get today.
We will not let your, nor Englehard Buhrin's, effort be lost nor forgotten.
Vern Merdith 1996
------Straight line family tree -----
Andreas Hornecker-Born: around 1600 Died: April 1, 1710
Wife- Catharina Hoefflin
/
/
Hans
Hornecker - Born: Nov. 26 1622 Died: June 23, 1726
Wife - Salome Dreher Caterina
Brandenberger /
/
Martin
Hornecker - Born: Dec. 29 1724 Died: Dec. 7, 1793
Wife - Regina Kissnagel
/
/
Jacob
Hornecker - Born: March 24, 1759 Died: ??
Wife - Catherina Zimmerman-Meyer ???
/
/
Jacob
Hornecker - Born: March 25, 1790 Died Nov. 3, 1863
Wife - Anna Marie
Adolph /
/
Johann Martin
Hornecker - Born: May 9, 1822 Died: June 21, 1918
Wife - Anna Maria
Nussbaumer Maria
Meyer /
/
Johann Martin
Hornecker - Born: April 25,1850 Died: July 19, 1939
Wife - Sarah Joliff
/
/
Orestes Martin
Hornecker - Born: June 8, 1886 Died: May 14, 1951
Wife - Gladys Grace Nicol
/
/
Phyllis Elaine
Hornecker - Born : June 20, 1939 Died : Not yet !!! My Mom
Husband - Frank Sperry
Meredith /
/
Vernon Dale
Meredith - Born: October 11, 1956 This is me !!!!!!!!
C. Hutchinson
The history that you just read was found in some stuff my mother had.
A Major Harry
Hornecker ( my mom's 2nd cousin was stationed in Germany
in 1947. Harry apparently went to Engelhard Buhrin, and asked for a history.
Whether Harry paid for this or not, is not known, but I think it is a very
interesting history, and not just a genealogy. The original document was quite
faded, but I rewrote it word for word, letter for letter, period for period.
The package this was in also contained copies of marriage documents,
death certificates, that were written in
German. A fella I work with
was stationed in Germany in the Army in 1989, and married a
German girl
whom translated them for me.
I will e-mail you again soon and tell you about me and more about
my family history. I would enjoy hearing more from you.
Vern
Meredith 1213 Aspen Drive
Riverton
Wyoming 82501
307-856-4654